Where is the Thomas Piketty of art?
The discussion between Mike Swinbourne and Peter Wilkin in response to my recent Conversation article on business models for the creative industry reminded me that the excessive profits alleged to be made by powerful industry players is the go-to argument for many critics of copyright. Yet the creative industries are hardly the only ones in which a small number of powerful figures are able to obtain much greater wealth than the average member of society, so are excessive profits in the creative industries really a result of copyright at all, or are they just the usual dynamic of the economic system that we have?
I decided to do some reading on this question, but struggled to find any actual study of this issue or a related one. Every now and again someone mentions the distribution of revenue obtained from the sale of a CD (G. Prem Premkumar's was the best I found) but no one seems to have compiled similar figures for on-line purchases, films or books. Nor does anyone appear to have investigated the overall distribution of revenue amongst artists, publishers, distributors and the rest, which is closer to what I wanted to know. Either my literature search skills have failed me, or I have a project for an economics student looking to become the Thomas Piketty of art.
Whether or not their profits are fair overall, large corporations are intimately involved in the creation and distribution of the art most discussed in debates over copyright and infringement. For all the vitriol directed at major record labels and movie studios, I can only recall one person (in a comment on The Conversation) professing that he'd rather do without their products. For all other critics of the creative industries, there's no question that Game of Thrones, Mad Max IV, The Lego Movie and the rest ought to be available, and it's hard to see how anyone but a large corporation or exceptionally wealthy individual could put together something that requires the many millions of dollars that go into creating such blockbusters.
Shana Ponelis and Johannes Britz, discussing the ethics of copyright infringement, point out that infringers can ease their consciences with the perception that the victims are giant corporations who no one professes to like and who can well afford the loss of one measly song or film. Any losses to the artists employed or contracted by these corporations are quietly ignored (as are the copyright users who do pay, covering the cost of creating the work that infringers take for nothing). But, in doing so, are infringement apologists forgetting who bought them the goodies at the centre of the debate?
I can't say I find giant corporations particularly lovable, either, and I try to favour small businesses in my neighbourhood as much as possible for things like groceries, services and entertainment. But I have to concede that giant corporations have their uses — for a start, how many of our digital entertainment devices were lovingly crafted in the rustic workshop of an independent electronics artisan? Until someone gets around to examining the distribution of wealth in the creative industries, however, it's hard to say how they might be best used and rewarded.
